Glass-coated wires generally, although not necessarily, comprise a relatively small-diameter metal core (typically ranging in diameter from 1 μm up to any larger diameter) covered with a relatively thin glass coating a few μm in thickness. These types of wires have found numerous applications in wire markets, including micro-wire markets, for example, in miniature electronic components; in security tags for personnel; in anti-theft tags for goods and merchandise; in anti-counterfeiting applications as well as in communication wires; and the like.
A method for glass coating of metal wires was first described by G. F. Taylor in 1924, and subsequently improved for relatively large-scale production by Ulitovsky in 1948. Generally referred to as the Taylor-Ulitovsky Process, the process is based on heating a glass tube containing a metal to a point where the metal melts and the glass, which has a substantially higher melting point than the metal, softens from the applied heat. The glass is then drawn out to form a capillary tube with the molten metal forming a metal core inside the tube. Frequently, electromagnetic induction is used to heat the metal until melting, and the heat of the metal used to heat up the glass until it softens any may be drawn out.